//------------------------------//
// Chapter 33: Betrayal 
// Story: Harmony Theory 
// by Sharaloth 
//------------------------------//


That being said, Inversion should not be thought of as ‘simply’ a reversal of polarity. Like all things with the Elements, it becomes more complex the deeper you look beneath the surface, with no sign of ever stopping. There is, for lack of a better term, nuance to Inversion. Just as the Element changes form for the bearer, the Inversion changes as well. When Fluttershy experienced Inversion the first time, she became callous and mean-spirited. However, another time it occurred, several years later, the Inversion manifested as much more subtle controlling and conniving behaviour; in this case turned to carefully manipulating her friends against each other. Both could be labelled as cruelty, but they were otherwise utterly different. 

This is to say nothing of how Inversions affect the behaviour of Proxy Bearers. 

As I have said many times already, this may be a bias of our perceptions. However, in this case I  believe it is not quite that simple. Rather, I think the differences arise from the changes to the way the Bearer understands and uses their Element. Returning to the example of Fluttershy, when she first Inverted it was under the influence of Discord. At the time we had only used the Elements once, and knew practically nothing of their many facets and powers. Thus her shallow understanding of Kindness translated into a shallow form of Cruelty. However, at the other time I mentioned Fluttershy was a seasoned Bearer, having used the Elements several times. She was also beginning to explore the Activated and Passive Abilities of her Element. This greater awareness of Kindness then translated into a more complex Cruelty.

This seems to hold true for all the Elements, save one. Rainbow Dash’s Betrayal took on an increasingly global scope, while Applejack’s Deceit was soon frighteningly persuasive, and Rarity’s Greed focused on horrific targets. The less said about Pinkie Pie’s Anger, the better. Once more the odd one out is Magic. While my understanding of the Elements has deepened along with that of my friend’s, perhaps even more so, my Inversion remains as it always was. I become melancholy and sullen, but no other change is observable. 

A more interesting observation, actually, is that as my friends became more familiar with their Elements, their Inversions became more frequent as well. Usually in response to some stress in the pony’s daily life, rather than forced by some greater entity like the first time. In fact, I have observed these phenomena enough to suggest that Inversion might not be something forced by circumstance on the Element at all. 

I think it’s a choice.

-From the sixth section of Harmony Theory by Twilight Sparkle





Chapter Thirty-Three: Betrayal



The construction of a chariot –more of a carriage, but Dash insisted on calling it a chariot– was done with a surprising amount of speed and ingenuity. A short planning session among the RIA mechanics, with input from Rainbow Dash and Star Fall, was all it took before the garage started looking like a kicked anthill. A half-dozen cars and vans were quickly cannibalized. Roofs, hoods and door panels of various colors were welded together like a mad jigsaw puzzle to build something that could hold seven ponies in relative comfort at high altitude and extreme speed. 

Astrid looked at the nearly completed vehicle and knew that ‘relative’ was the word to focus on. Everything that could be sacrificed to save weight was discarded, leaving a spartan interior that promised a very hard ride indeed. There were no seats, no belts, no cushions. Only a railing running along either wall equipped with simple loops of rope to secure the occupants. Turbulence would toss the unprepared around like dolls. Astrid shuddered at the thought of Dash doing any of her trademark maneuvers while towing it. Still, it was ‘relatively’ more comfortable than a face-full of wind at near-transonic speeds. 

With nothing better to do, several of those who would be going on this mad little mission were loitering about the garage, watching the mechanics do their work. Star Fall was off in a corner designing the spells that would keep them from weighing Dash down too much. Rainbow Dash herself was deep in a conversation with a chatty pony named Trail Blazer, who Astrid recognized from their first trip through the Everstorm with Dash. Despite the sizeable language barrier, Pinkie Pie had somehow contrived to engage a group of RIA spooks in a game of hopscotch. The rest were either getting food or rest, as they pleased.

Then there was Rarity, who had been giving Astrid nervous looks for the better part of an hour. That she had something to say was obvious, and Astrid was just contemplating going over and asking her what the fuss was about when Rarity finally started moving. “It’s astoundingly grotesque, isn’t it?” Rarity said as she stepped up beside the Griffin.

Astrid spared the unicorn a wry glance. “I’m more worried about whether it will work than how it looks. If those welds fail at top speed… well, I’m not sure even Dash could save us all.”

A wistful smile played at Rarity’s lips. “Oh, don’t underestimate Rainbow Dash. She has made something of a habit of performing seemingly impossible feats.” Astrid chuckled in quiet agreement, but her laughter stopped as she saw the change in Rarity’s expression. Her smile faded and her ears drooped, her eyes closing for a long moment. Whatever she wanted to say, she was finally ready to say it. “Astrid, I have to tell you something. It isn’t a good time, I know, but I don’t know when we shall have another chance.”

Astrid’s eyes narrowed into a frown, she couldn’t think of anything the pony could tell her that would provoke a reaction like this. “Go on.”

“It’s…” Rarity stopped, shaking her head. “It’s about Melody.”

“Melody?” Astrid’s frown deepened. “What about… her…”

The answer was clear enough. She didn’t need Rarity to say anything more. Still, Rarity’s horn lit up and a small unicorn doll was levitated out in front of her. It had been torn in half and sewn back together again, but it was still recognizable. “I’m sorry, Astrid,” Rarity said, dropping the doll into Astrid’s open claw. “It was… She followed us here, and then Cash attacked–”

“I get it,” Astrid cut her off, her voice soft. “She was supposed to be back in the capital, getting some fucking help.” She squeezed the doll tight for a furious moment, then relaxed with a sad sigh. “It’s my own fault for not checking up on her. Too damn busy being Captain of the Princess’ guard.” She held the doll out to Rarity. “Keep it for me, will ya? I’ve got no time for mushy feelings right now.”

“Of course,” Rarity said, taking the doll back and tucking it away. “I am sorry, Astrid. Is there anything I can do?”

“You can remember her,” Astrid said, staring resolutely at the nearly-complete chariot. “There’ll be a lot of mourning to do when this is all over, but it’s gotta be over first.”

“I wish I were coming with you.”

“So do I,” Astrid said. “I’d take you in a heartbeat, head injury or not, if it meant one of those Changelings didn’t get to go.”

“I admit to having limited contact with Traduce, but I spent some time with Calumn, and he seems perfectly capable. And quite sweet, actually.”

Astrid snorted. “Oh, they seem sweet all right. Then before you know it you’re stealing state secrets and selling your children for them, and all the while they’re slurping down your emotions like a milkshake.”

“That seems rather harsh.”

“That’s what they do. That’s what they are. With two of them on the team I’m gonna be looking over my shoulder every step of the way.” Astrid let out a long sigh. “However, they’re dedicated to their missions. I’ll give them that. So long as Director Straff isn’t planning to screw us, they should behave.”

“Dash trusts Calumn, too.”

“Yeah, but that’s the thing about you superponies,” Astrid said with a shake of her head. “You’re all hopelessly naive.”

Rarity looked at her for a long moment before turning away. “We should hope that isn’t true, Astrid,” she said as she started walking away. “For everyone’s sake.”

Astrid didn’t watch her go, but she heard every word. “From your lips to Celestia’s ears,” she said, quietly adding a prayer of her own. Even if the Changelings were perfectly trustworthy, they were still going to need every edge they could get.



***



Star Fall concentrated, carefully measuring the angles with a protractor before drawing an intersecting line through the spell she was constructing. Then she measured all the angles again to ensure she’d gotten the correct degree of incidence. This was an entirely new spell, though the principles were familiar, and any mistake could be deadly. Even a single line like this one, if out of place, could have catastrophic consequences. If the angle was off, the forces would be unbalanced and the chariot would list to the side in flight, potentially dragging Dash off course or causing her too much strain.

Satisfied, Star Fall leaned back and stretched out. The motion tugged at the harness she wore: belted straps criss-crossing her body with clips and pouches dangling from them. It was something that had been made for her when she had first been sent to the nightlands, but she’d never had much use for it. Now, though, she was glad she brought it.

A noise of rubber on concrete alerted her that she had company, and Star Fall looked up as Spike wheeled himself over to her. She smiled at him, though she felt like wincing at the sight of him all bandaged and beaten. She had never seen him injured before. Even after the fight in his lair that had destroyed his storage room, he had looked battered, but not really hurt. It was a grim reminder that even a creature as ancient and powerful as he could be brought down by Charisma and her master.

“I came to see if you needed any help,” he said. “I may not be able to come with you, but I still know how to draw a spell.”

“Thank you,” Star Fall said. “But I already have all the spells I can think of.” She gestured to a pile of small, waterproof scroll pouches that could attach to her harness. “I’ve got combat spells, healing spells, containment spells. I even have a copy of my magic dampening spell, since it worked fairly well against Cash last time.”

He nodded, though he couldn’t keep a touch of disappointment from his face at the lack of things he could help with. “What about the chariot? You’re making a spell to help Dash tow it, right?”

“I’m nearly done,” she admitted. “But I wouldn’t mind you checking my work!” she hastened to add.

That did seem to brighten his mood. “I’m wondering how you plan to keep it in the air. I’m certain you didn’t think you could actually levitate the chariot.”

Star Fall snorted. “Of course not. Look.” She shimmied to the side, letting him see the nearly completed spell-sheets she had painstakingly drawn. 

He eyed the arcane designs, humming and nodding as he saw the shape of the spell. “Airflow control. Interesting. What’s the basic purpose?”

“Rainbow Dash will supply the thrust, this spell will generate lift,” she explained. “It changes the way the air flows around the chariot. Like giving it wings, but without the weight.”

“Excellent idea.” She smiled at the praise. “I’m seeing mixed variables and constants here. I assume the spell isn’t meant to be static?”

“Not entirely. There are static elements, like the basic lift-generation, and there are variable ones, like the degree of lift generation.”

“Ha! So you’re going to control the lift directly? Another smart move. I was just thinking that Dash has a tendency to, you know, go really fast. A static spell could easily generate too much lift, and then you’re just slowing her down again. What’s your control medium? You can’t use illusory controls, not for the hours this trip’s going to take.”

“I thought of that,” Star Fall said, then gave her wings a couple flaps. “The spell is controlled with these. It’s based on pegasus magic, something I’ve got a lot of experience regulating already. It’s gonna take a lot of concentration to maintain, but it’s low energy so I should be able to keep it up for, well, as long as it takes. I hope.”

“Okay. I see the haptic additions, now,” Spike said. “You’ll feel the wind as if you were outside. You’ll have to keep in sync with Dash throughout the flight.”

“That’s why there’s a window on the front of the chariot,” Star Fall said, smiling. “I’ve got this, Spike.”

He nodded, gazing at her with the pride only a Dragon was capable of. “You put this spell together in a night. You were always something special, Star Fall. It’s not just any student of mine who could do that.”

And just like that, all the joy she felt in pleasing her old teacher was gone. “Student,” she repeated, and then her face fell. “Spike...” she began, trailing off as her ears twitched and her wings moved restlessly. A horrible thought had suddenly crossed her mind. Something that had been nagging at her for days. Something she hadn’t let herself truly think of until this moment.

“What’s up, Star?” he asked, frowning at her behaviour.

“How long have you known Twinkle Shine?”

“The Professor? A while.” There was no hint of hesitation or worry in his reply, but something about it still seemed off to her.

She shook her head. “No, I need exact years.”

“I don’t know… since she first started formal studies in magic,” Spike said, his eyes tracking up as he thought about it. He still sounded nothing but casually sincere.

Yet Star Fall knew a dodge when she heard one. She took a deep, steadying breath, then looked up right into his eyes and waited for him to meet her gaze before she spoke again. “Did you know she was Umbra?”

He stared at her for a long moment, and she silently willed him to tell her something, anything, other than what she saw behind those eyes. She knew he wouldn’t, though. She could see his answer forming long before he opened his mouth. The guilt that seeped through the cracks of his discipline. “Yes,” he said, though his voice was only a whisper.

The confirmation of her suspicions hit her like a blow. Her eyes prickled with tears that she refused to shed and her throat felt like it was swelling shut. “How long?” Star Fall asked, whispering as well since if she spoke louder she was afraid it would become a scream.

“Since the beginning.”

She knew she should be thinking of questions to ask him. She knew that she should be putting her emotions away and focusing on gaining every scrap of information she could. She needed to understand her mentor, as well as the creature her mentor was a part of, and Spike might have all the answers. At that moment, though, it was all she could do to hold back a flood of tears that she feared would drown her. “You knew… She killed so many people...”

His eyes fell to the floor for a moment before rising back to meet hers again. “I know. So have I.”

She tried to take a steadying breath, but failed. “Couldn’t you have done something? Warned us? Stopped her?” The look he gave her was answer enough. “No, of course not. Can’t go against Umbra, not unless you want a mountain dropped on you.”

“She’s not what you think.”

“I don’t know what to think!” Star Fall snarled. She tried again to take a deep breath, and it came hissing through clenched teeth. “I don’t know… but you do.”

“Yes.”

Star Fall shuddered, her wings fluttering in agonized expression before settling again. “I can’t do this now. Not with Cash so close. I need time to breathe. Time to think.”

“I’ll be here,” he said, rolling back. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”

“Good,” she said, staring at her nearly finished spell. “Good. I… Will I be able to forgive you?” She wiped at her face, blinking rapidly to clear her eyes. “When I’ve heard it all, will I be able to forgive you for not telling me?”

He paused, his features sad and resigned. “Me? I think so. What I’ve done wasn’t wrong or right, just… necessary. No, I’m not the one I’m worried you won’t forgive.”

“I think Twinkle Shine’s lost any right to that,” Star Fall said.

“She’s not the one I’m talking about.”

By the time Star Fall registered what he’d said, Spike was already gone.



***



“...So then I walked through the door and said ‘hey, does anybody wanna buy a housecoat?’”

Rainbow Dash snickered. “While it was on fire?”

Trail Blazer shrugged. “What else could I do? I really needed that drink. Anyway, that was when Charisma found me. She storms in super-angry with me because of how the whole duck pond thing got her chased by a horde of hungry waterfowl. Now, we’d only been dating for, like, a few months at this point, so I might have made a comment about how sexy she looked with her dress all wet and sticking. You know? Like how it can really show off a mare’s–”

“Skip it,” Dash interrupted. “Back to Charisma.”

“Okay. So she wasn’t really happy with the compliment. Or maybe it was all about the ducks? Anyway, I think she broke a chair over my head? I’m kinda fuzzy on the details here, but I can tell you that one thing led to another and I ended up in bed with her. Which, I guess there was some fun times, but it’s all kind of blurry until sometime about two in the morning when I came to with all my legs dislocated and Charisma nestled up next to me and poking me with a very sharp knife.” Dash couldn’t suppress a shudder. Blaze’s voice kept a bubbly, light-hearted tone throughout, and that alone made her gorge rise.

“So I looked over to her and said ‘So, was it good for me, too?’ And she laughed and started making these little cuts and watching the blood dribble out. I told her we’d better order nachos so we can tell the maids that it’s just a salsa stain, and also I really wanted some nachos. Something about cheese and peppers was sounding real good at the time. Anyway, she laughed again and then she got this look on her face. Like she was listening for something that wasn’t there. I didn’t really get it at the time, but I figured out that was her ‘existential crisis’ face. So she got really quiet for a bit and I was gonna say something but she punched me in the throat. Not hard, just a little love-tap, only enough to make it tough to breathe for a few minutes. I took that as a hint that she wanted me to be quiet and let her have her moment. Eventually she started talking.” Blaze paused. Dash still didn’t have a good grasp of his moods, but it seemed to her that his ever-present smile had turned slightly sad. 

“What did she say?”

“Oh, you know, the usual stuff we all look back on. Her childhood, her family, how she loved dancing, how she got her Glyph by killing her brother, where she went to school. You know, nostalgia stuff. She also told me how she was trained by the Kingdom.” Blaze tilted his head towards where Gamma, Straff and an older pegasus Dash recognized from the briefing were talking. “Gamma was a big part of that. She’s the reason Charisma ended up in the military and not the proud owner of her very own padded cell. And, I mean, good on her for giving a filly a chance, but this’d all be a lot less painful if she hadn’t.”

“Yeah,” Dash agreed, nodding along. She hadn’t missed the part about Charisma killing her brother, but she decided to let Blaze tell the story at his own pace.

“It wasn’t about what she said as much as what she didn’t say, you know? I picked up a lot of below-the-surface stuff, and I was listening really closely because the threat of grievous bodily harm always seems to sharpen my attention. Anyway, the gist of it is she wants to kill everyone.” Blaze sighed. “She came out and actually said it right before I, uh, pushed her into an angry Dragon. She thinks she’d be doing the world a favor, and she thinks it’s what she was made for. It’s hard to wrap your head around. Like ramming a car into a tree, you just end up breaking around the idea. It’s like, to her, we’re all just begging to die. Like everybody in the whole world is constantly asking her to take out the trash, but she doesn’t want to because there’s a whole lot of it, and it’s really messy and smelly and it gets everywhere and it’ll just stain all her clothes and get in her mane and maybe she’s got a date or something and doesn’t want to have to take a shower and doesn’t have anything else to wear, and she kinda wants to impress the guy she’s going out with, which, you know she really doesn’t have to because he’s kind of a goof and is only after some of that sweet, sweet, horrible physical abuse anyway, but they just won’t stop asking and asking and asking and asking until she gives up and takes out a bag, but that’s just one bag and the pile is big, like, really big. Only, let’s be clear here, the trash is people, and they don’t just go to the curb, oh no. Unless that’s in their will. Which is, I guess, their prerogative, but kinda weird. I always said my remains should be shot out of a cannon into a vat of marmalade which will then be smeared over several politicians who I do not like. You know, like a normal person.”

Dash absorbed Blaze’s breathless ramblings, pulling the important stuff out of all the irrelevancies. “She’s crazy.”

“She thinks she’s crazy,” Blaze corrected her. “I don’t think she is.”

“She kills people, Blaze.”

“That’s what she does,” he agreed. “And you fly fast. How would you feel if you were told ever since you were a little filly that you weren’t allowed to? That it was wrong.”

Dash opened her mouth to reply, but then slowly closed it again, saying nothing. She wanted to argue with Blaze, to protest how that wasn’t a fair comparison. Only, the more she thought about it, the more it resonated with her. Something clicked into place, and she felt she understood the other pegasus better. There were still many questions left, but a part of the picture had revealed itself. “But why Loyalty?” she finally managed to ask. “I mean… what makes her able to use that Element?”

Blaze shrugged. “Dunno. I pegged her for Generosity myself. She’s pretty loyal to Cash, I guess, but I don’t think it’s real loyalty. She doesn’t like him, you know? As a person, I mean. It’s pretty complicated.”

“She likes you, though, right?”

“Well, we did date.”

“Do you think you could talk her down? If I could, I don’t know, hold her still long enough, could you get through to her?”

Blaze shook his head. “Not a chance. On the plus side, though, she doesn’t think I’m a threat and she’s not going to kill me right off the bat.”

“So you might be able to get a surprise attack on her?”

“Nope. Played that card already, she’ll be watching for it this time. What I can do is distract her. I’m good at that.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Dash said, but she didn’t think it was a good idea. 

“Hey, I gotta go. Calumn’s giving me the old ‘come-hither’ look of irritated impatience,” Blaze said. 

“Yeah, alright,” Dash said. “I’ll see you at takeoff.” He flashed her a grin and trotted off to follow his Changeling friend out of the garage. Dash stood in frustrated silence, thinking about what she had learned.

She was going to have to fight Charisma, the absolute certainty of it coming from somewhere deep inside that she didn’t understand, but knew not to question. She needed every edge in that fight she could get, and she’d been hoping that Blaze could provide something decisive. It was now clear that he wouldn’t be able to do that, and while what he’d told her was important, it wasn’t what she needed. 

“Agent Dash.”

Dash’s head whipped around, her wings twitching partway open with surprise. She’d been so absorbed in her own thoughts she hadn’t noticed anyone coming up to her. “Whoa! Gamma. I, uh, what’s up?”

The spymaster quirked an eyebrow. “Agent Dash, I trust what you learned about Charisma was enlightening.”

“Yeah, I… how did you know what we were talking about? Were you doing some magical eavesdropping thing?”

A small smile twitched the corners of Gamma’s lips upwards. “Hardly. I spent several long days travelling with that stallion, and the only time he ever looked remotely serious was when he was speaking of his former lover or her master. Thus it wasn’t difficult to tell from his expression what he was speaking of here.”

Dash folded her wings. “Yeah, okay, I get that. He told me you are kinda responsible for the way Charisma is.”

“Straight to the point, I see.” Gamma gave her a single, slow nod. “Yes. Some of the blame for Charisma can be laid at my hooves. I took a dangerous, disturbed filly and turned her into an extremely dangerous, disturbed mare. I did not, however, make her choose to join Cash. Nor am I responsible for all the deaths she has caused since.” 

“I didn’t say you were,” Dash said, head drooping a bit. “I just… want to understand her. I’m gonna have to fight her. I know that. And I want to know what makes a pony go so… bad!”

Gamma stepped closer to Dash, her voice dropping low and intimate, just above a whisper. “When she was still part of the Kingdom military I tried very hard to keep her from any conflict. Most importantly because her expertise as a trainer was of greater utility than any number of kills in the field. But also because the filly I first met very much did not want to kill anyone.” She was silent for a moment, her expression unreadable. “Her desires, however, have little sway. She kills because she’s compelled to. I helped train that compulsion into a powerful weapon.”

“Yeah, thanks for that.”

“My point is that she did not ‘go bad’. She was shaped by her world much as we all are. The fact that this shaping has gone awry from its intended purpose should not be used to condemn her.”

“You still want her dead,” Dash said, accusation in her voice and eyes.

Gamma didn’t flinch from that charge. “Of course I want her dead. She is a traitor to the Kingdom and a threat to us all. The fact that I sympathize with her, the fact that I am genuinely sorry she ended up this way, means nothing in the face of that threat.”

“I can’t do that!” Dash growled at her through clenched teeth. “I can’t just decide that someone needs to die. If she’s not just evil, if there’s an actual pony underneath all that crazy, how am I supposed to… to kill her?”

“She’s killed others. Many others.”

“That doesn’t mean I have to.”

“Do you recall that I asked you once if you would kill?” Dash reluctantly nodded. “I gave you a hypothetical situation with no way out but deadly force. You said then that there would be another way, one that you would have to find in the moment. Your answer was naive, and I think you’ve grown enough to see that. You and Applejack are the only ones who have a chance against her, and eventually it will come down to a confrontation where someone is going to die. You will have the chance to make that person her, and if you fail in that task, it most assuredly will be someone else. I don’t want to have to bury Star Fall because of your qualms with getting blood on your hooves.”

“That’s not fair!” The moment the words were out of her mouth, Dash hated herself for saying them. 

“Life rarely is.” Gamma took a step back. “I am putting my faith in you, Rainbow Dash. You are a good pony, but I warned you that your history and abilities would make these choices inevitable. I believe –I know– that when the time comes you will make the right choice.” She let those words sink in. “Now, that’s all I can say on this subject. I have someone here who desperately wants to meet you, Agent Dash. Would you be willing to speak with him for a few minutes?”

Dash didn’t want to talk to anyone, but there was an edge to Gamma’s voice as she asked that told her this request was important somehow. So she swallowed her frustration, took a deep breath, and settled her wings. “Sure. Whatever. Who is it?”

“May I present the honorable Senator Alan Birchfield,” Gamma said, waving over the older pegasus. “Senator, this is Dame Rainbow Dash.”

“Uh, hey,” Dash said, unsure of how to properly address a Senator.

“Lady Rainbow Dash,” Birchfield said, his eyes wide and starstruck. His Solar was accented, but easily understandable.

“Just ‘Dash’ is fine.”

“I’ll leave you two to talk,” Gamma said, withdrawing. 

Dash and Birchfield shared an uncomfortable silence for a long moment before Dash decided to break the ice. “So, uh, I heard about your place from Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Sorry about that.”

“I had a statue of you,” he said.

Dash blinked at the apparent non-sequitur. “Nah, man, I think you had Pinkie Pie.”

He smiled, shaking his head. “No, a small statue. One made to show what the real one would look like. I kept it in a place of honor in my… home.” His eyes squeezed shut for a moment in a pained wince, but he shook it off and continued speaking. “I had Laughter, yes, but I always wanted Loyalty. I always wanted you.” He stepped back and took her in, his wings opening slightly and his eyes going wide with wonder. “A pegasus of the old way. That little statue of you was an inspiration to me. It let me dream of walking on the clouds and crafting rainbows. When I looked at it, it was as if for a moment I could feel the power of the storm, or the glory of the unfettered sky.”

“Uh, glad I could help?”

He chuckled. “You did.” Then he squared his jaw and his eyes started to shine with determined tears. “But now you’re standing here, in the flesh, and I… I must beg of you, Rainbow Dash. Show me… show me what we pegasi were meant for. Truly meant for.”

Dash was taken aback, she had no idea how to respond to such a plea. “I, uh, okay, dude. When this is all over, I’ll put on an airshow or something.”

“No,” he said, stepping close again and laying a hoof on her shoulder. Her eyes flicked from his face to his hoof and back again, but she didn’t pull away. “Before I became a politician, I was a soldier. I served my country through a half-dozen conflicts in the Zebra nations and beyond, and I made good friends with the striped people. They remember the histories better there than we do here, and they taught me about the pegasi of old. Long before the Schism, before the Goddesses took up their crowns, we were warriors. I know that you still are. That is what I want you to show me: a true warrior-pegasus unleashed!”

“Aw, for… look, buddy.” She shook his hoof off and poked her own at Birchfield’s chest. “That’s not what I’m here for, alright? I’m not some super-warrior or whatever. I’m just an athlete and a weatherpony in a really weird situation. I’m doing what I gotta do, and, yeah, it might get rough, but I’m not going to head out looking to take somebody’s head off. You want me to show you what pegasi in my time could do? I can hook you up with some of the coolest air routines you’ve ever seen or put together a storm that’ll really knock your socks off. That stuff you’re talking about? That’s not me. That’s not us, and it hasn’t been for a long, long time.”

His mouth fell open, taken aback by her vehemence. For a moment she thought he would be angry, but then he let out a laugh and a wide smile overtook his features. “Alright, alright. You would know better than I. Then, when you come back, I would be delighted for you to put on an airshow.”

“Awesome. You set the venue, and I’ll be there and bring my ‘A’ game.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it,” he replied, then excused himself to go speak with Gamma again.

Dash was left alone after that, allowed to ponder on the choice Gamma insisted she would have to make. She wanted to fly, she always thought better when airborne. However, she needed to keep herself rested for the coming flight. Applejack hadn’t been wrong in telling her that she didn’t have the endurance for something like this. Short bursts of extreme speed, that’s what she was made for. Hours of dragging several times her own body weight at a run was more Applejack’s thing. It would be easier if she was going slower, she could fly at Star Fall or Astrid’s pace for days, but that wasn’t an option. She only hoped Star Fall’s spell would be enough to let her go the distance.

Eventually, the chariot was finished, and those going on the mission were summoned. They wheeled the jigsaw-like creation outside, onto the road that they had cleared to give Dash the runway to takeoff with. Soon everyone was gathered in the morning light, gear strapped tightly to their bodies, determined looks on their faces. Dash was the only one who wasn’t wearing any saddlebags or other equipment, since it would have interfered with the harness that connected her to the chariot. 

Pinkie Pie gave them all big hugs. Rarity and Spike gave them their best wishes. Gamma just gave Dash a steady look that communicated once again her confidence in Dash making the ‘right’ choice. Finally, Straff gave them a cursory inspection before addressing them. “No speeches,” he said. “You all know what to do. You all know what’s at stake. Good luck, and may the will of the Goddesses of both day and night go with you.”

Before they could pile into the tight confines of the carriage, Dash pulled Star Fall aside. “Hey,” she said, speaking in Old Equestrian to keep the conversation somewhat private. “You don’t look so good. What’s up?”

She shook her head. “Nothing we can deal with right now. When we get back, I have to talk to Spike. He knows more than he’s told us.”

“About what?”

“Umbra, the Professor. Everything, maybe.” She took a steadying breath. “Finding out hit me hard.”

“Does Astrid know?”

Star Fall shook her head. “Not yet, and I won’t get the chance to tell her on the trip.”

“You’re still okay to do this, though. Right?” Dash didn’t want to call off the mission for any reason, but if Star Fall wasn’t up for it, she would have little choice.

“Yeah,” Star Fall confirmed, forcing what was supposed to be a confident smile onto her face. “I’m good to go.”

Dash gave Star Fall a hug, then let the other mare board the chariot. Soon everyone was inside, and the telltale crimson glow of Star Fall’s magic surrounded it. Dash was strapped into her harness. It was a far more complicated than anything that would have been used in her own time, with straps and buckles that cinched tight to keep her and the chariot securely connected. It seemed to her like some pretty serious over-engineering, but she didn’t complain. As soon as the straps were all secure the RIA agents rushed clear. She couldn’t help a laugh at the extreme caution they were displaying, but she figured they had no idea what to expect. 

As soon as her way was clear, she set out. The first pull on the chariot was the hardest, her hooves scraping against the pavement as she strained to get the bulk of metal and seven ponies moving. Move it did, though, and within a few seconds she was trotting along and gaining speed with every step. Her wings unfurled, caressing the wind. Her magic flowed out with her reaching feathers, thickening the air and granting her the traction she’d need. Then, with one mighty downstroke, her hooves left the ground and she shot forward. 

She kept low at first, focusing on accelerating. She was pleased to find that the chariot was already feeling lighter, Star Fall’s spell working just as expected. Finally, as she was running out of road, she tilted upwards, pulling the chariot into the sky. She didn’t shoot straight up, as she might have on her own. Instead she curved her flight gently, describing a wide spiral through the air that still had the whole of Orion City sprawling beneath her. 

She circled a few more times as she got to an appropriate altitude, letting those inside the carriage get as settled as they could. Then she turned south and began a slow acceleration to around three hundred miles an hour, which was near the upper limit of what the mechanics said the chariot could handle. Even at those speeds she was looking at a journey of over five hours. A spike of anxiety went through her at that thought. It seemed far too long a time.

She didn’t want to think about it. So she set herself into a determined rhythm, speeding up until she could feel the straps and bars of her harness creak in protest, and fixed her eyes on the southern horizon. 

Rainbow Dash flew. The weight of the chariot was a brutal yoke, dragging on her with every flap of her wings. Yet she wanted to go faster. She needed to go faster. The knot of anxiety growing into a gnawing worry in her gut that was slowly clawing its way further up her throat with every league she covered, fed by a horrible certainty that she was going to be too late. 

And so she flew. Beyond the time when she should have stopped to eat. Beyond the point where her body should have been exhausted from dragging the weight of seven ponies and a metal carriage across half a continent. The harness straps cut into her as she rode the edge of what the chariot was capable of withstanding, but she didn’t slow. The land passed by beneath her at a deceptively rapid crawl, but she barely saw it. Vast plains, massive cities and towering mountains were met with equal indifference. Her gaze was fixed solely to the south. 

She couldn’t have said how long it had been since she started. Not that she cared. It wouldn’t matter how long she had flown so long as she showed up in time. A distant part of her mind knew that her endurance had never been up to a non-stop trip like this, but paradoxically, her energy only grew with every mile closer she got to her goal. By the time she spotted the deeper green of the jungle rolling over the horizon, it was all she could do to keep from shouting with joy and putting on a burst of speed that would take her through the sound barrier and put her at their destination in minutes. Of course, it would also have likely killed everyone in the chariot, so she managed to keep herself in check.

“What’s up with me today?” she asked herself, the words dragged away by the wind before they reached her ears. She didn’t spend time contemplating the question, the small worry drowned out by the fear of failure that was already firmly entrenched in her thoughts. 

She peered ahead, watching as the endless jungle swallowed all the land beneath her. “Come on, come on,” she urged, keen pegasus eyes scanning for the place that had been described to her. “Where are you?”

Minutes and miles flowed past her, each one adding to the anxiety and energy that were working together to twist her insides. Her eyes darted from place to place, their movements growing ever more frantic. Then, with a surge of mixed elation and terror, she spotted it: a large clearing, full of flowers and statues, centered on a marble building that certainly looked pegasus-built –the pillared entrance was a dead giveaway. 

“Gotcha!” Dash crowed, angling her flight towards the clearing. She started her descent, hoping that Star Fall and the rest inside the chariot would realize what was happening and get ready to spring into action. She grinned as her wide view of the world narrowed and the air warmed and thickened around her. “I’m gonna make it,” she said.

Then a brilliant pink light flashed from the temple and everything went wrong.



***



Within the chariot the noise was incredible, the wind howling by like an army of demons baying for blood. If that wasn’t enough the carriage was constantly making groaning, scraping noises that made them all consider with gnawing trepidation the hasty welds that held the vehicle together. Needless to say, conversation was all but nonexistent. The close proximity of seven bodies made the air warm and stifling, while the wind outside quickly chilled the bare metal of the chariot so that the occupants were caught uncomfortably between two extremes. The only light came from the window at the front of the carriage and the eerie glow of Star Fall’s spell-sheets, and even that was often blocked by Star Fall’s own wings as she carefully guided the spell that kept them in the air. The effect was like being shut into a coffin flying through the screaming depths of hell.

Astrid and Applejack, up at the front with Star Fall, at least had the option of peeking out the window. If either of them were uncomfortable in the close confines, neither showed it. Trail Blazer had made a fair go of being his usual chipper self, but no one else was having it, and he soon went quiet. Calumn seemed to fold in on himself, curling up on the cold floor wrapped in his cloak and saying something to himself that was impossible to hear over all the other noise. For Hard Boiled and Traduce, stuck at the very back, there was little to do but stand idly and count the interminable minutes.

HB would have liked to be able to rest, but, as was typical, that wasn’t in the cards. He ran his telekinesis over all his equipment, ensuring that his sidearm was clear in its holster, that his ballistic jacket was settled properly, that he had his hoofcuffs and stun baton ready. Once assured that everything was in its place, he went back to standing quietly, only to start up the sweep again after his thoughts wandered too close to the thing that had been terrifying him since the briefing.

Hours passed this way, until eventually Traduce reached out and touched his face, startling him out of another cycle of checking his gear. “You’re worried,” she said, leaning close to put her mouth right next to his ear. Even then she still had to talk loudly to be heard. “And not about confronting Cash, I can feel it.”

HB let out a slow breath. “The Gray Mare,” he said, closing his eyes and seeing again the image of the Alicorn atop a cloud of ash. “Heading to the Stile Islands. You know what that means.”

Traduce nodded, her expression grim. “Nothing we can do about that. We have to focus on the mission we’re on.”

He rolled his eyes. “Good luck with that. How long have we been on this thing already?”

She shrugged. “It will take as long as it takes. Will you be ready to confront Cash when we get there?”

It was his turn to nod. “I’m ready for him now. As long as you keep the pain away, he won’t be able to stop me this time.” He shook his head. “Is it just me, or does this all feel like the end of the world?”

“What do you mean?”

His voice was getting rough from having to yell everything, but he wanted her to understand his fears, so he pressed on. “Think about it. The Destroyer, these resurrected heroes, the Elements of Harmony. Hell, Cash and Charisma with superpowers! Don’t tell me this isn’t all leading up to something huge!”

She leaned her head against his. “I know. But we’re doing all we can.”

“Are we? Shouldn’t we be warning the public? Getting the story out to every newspaper and radio station in the nightlands?”

“That would cause a panic.”

“It would let people know. The world could be destroyed tomorrow by a psychotic unicorn or a wrathful Goddess, and they wouldn’t ever know what killed them. It just… doesn’t sit well with me.”

“It’s not our job to worry about that stuff,” Traduce insisted. “Straff, Gamma, they’ve got their eye on a picture bigger than either of us can see. When it’s time to let people know, they will.”

“You got a lot more faith in the people in command than I do,” HB said, shaking his head.

“I have to,” she said. “My whole species depends on those people being as smart and as wise as we need them to be. We can’t do anything about Umbra. What we can do is make sure that if the end comes, it isn’t the psychotic unicorn that makes it happen.”

He had no reply to that. They stood there for a time, her resting her head against his. The contact was strangely soothing, and he wondered if she was using her power to influence him. Knowing that the suspicion would hurt her, he nevertheless flicked on his truth-detecting magic to check.

Immediately his magic was screaming warnings at him. Not from Traduce, but from the front of the carriage. He started, pushing away from Traduce. He caught the sad, rejected expression as he did, but he didn’t have time to soothe her feelings. He shoved Blaze to the side, squeezing between him and Calumn to reach the three at the front. 

“What the hell?” Astrid squawked in Solar, but she wasn’t who he was after. He grabbed Applejack by the shoulder. He tried to spin her around, only to find that she might as well have been a part of the chariot for all he could move her. Still, she reacted to his touch, turning her face to him. The people behind him gasped and Astrid let out a sound of sudden fear. “Oh fuck me, not again.”

“What’s goin’ on?” Applejack asked, confused. 

“Yeah, what’s going on?” Star Fall echoed, not looking away from the window.

“It’s Applejack,” Astrid replied. “Her eyes are glowing.”

Then Applejack collapsed, and the whole chariot went into free-fall.



***



Charisma followed Cash into the temple. The strange fallen garden all around it gave the entire place a surreal edge, like she was walking through a dream. The various weathered animal statues didn’t help that feeling, only making her feel as if there were eyes on her. The temple itself was just as bad. A long, open space leading to another garden that practically glowed in the light coming from the open skylight. The statue of a yellow pegasus mare stood at the center of that garden, surrounded by smaller statues of woodland critters who seemed to be caught in a frozen moment of play around her hooves as she smiled gracefully down at them. It wore a necklace with a pink gem in the shape of a butterfly, something Charisma recognized from Cash’s book. That statue was lifelike enough that she half expected it to start moving at any moment.

“There you are,” Cash said in a rapturous whisper. Charisma was about to say something before she realized that he was talking to the statue, of all things. Or perhaps it was the Element around the statue’s neck. Either way, the tone of his voice sent a disturbed shiver through her wings. “This has been a long time in coming, my dear.” 

She could hardly look at him anymore. The Elements were a churning vortex inside the thin walls of his skin. She wondered what would happen when that last barrier began to erode through. It had progressed so far that her Talent wasn’t even demanding his death as loudly as usual, there was barely enough left of him to kill.

“So, we’re here,” she said. “Now what? You need to kill someone to get the Element, right? You said it wasn’t me, so who?”

“Well, the thing is, I wasn’t being entirely honest with you there.” He turned to face her, his smile wild and triumphant.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “So you are planning on killing me?” She snorted. It wouldn’t surprise her, which told her that she was probably wrong. “You might want to wait until after the betrayal to tell me all about it, Max.”

“Please, I’ve never lied to you, Charisma,” he said. “But I haven’t told you everything, either.” He turned back to the statue, trotting up to it. “I needed to kill someone for the other Elements, yes. Not because I couldn’t get the necklaces off on my own, but because I needed a shock absorber. After a thousand years of inactivity, there was going to be one hell of a kick when these babies woke up again. I needed the sacrifices to bleed off that energy so that I could take possession without them causing my brain to pop like a ripe zit.”

“So they would have all died anyway?”

“Oh, no. The brain-explosion thing is only likely if you’re trying to wield more than one. Which, well, yeah.” He waved a hoof at his saddlebag, where the other Elements were stored.

“And this one’s different somehow?”

“So very different.” He giggled, twisting to drape himself along the statue’s back, lying on it like a divan. “Imagine drinking from a straw, only sometimes you go for a sip and it erupts like a geyser. You never know when it’s gonna happen, so you have to be very careful in taking that drink. Fluttershy here has the Element of Kindness, which regulates all the others. It keeps that straw from turning into a water cannon. I can slip this lovely little gem right off and barely feel a twinge.”

“So why don’t you?” She still stood near the door. She could feel the connection between her Element and the one on the statue. There was a strange resonance there that reminded her of what she had felt when stopping the Element of Laughter. She didn’t know what would happen if she got too close, and she didn’t really want to find out. 

He grinned at her. “All in good time. First, I thought we’d discuss the next phase.”

“Really? You’re delaying?” She looked up at the ceiling, growling in incredulous frustration. “Weren’t you the one who told me you expected every one of our surviving enemies to show up here and now? Look, we’re good right now. Why not just grab the thing and we be long gone before any of them show up?”

He gave her a wide-eyed look of faux shock. “But that would ruin the plan. If I’m not here, how do I give them their Elements?”

She had to take a moment to fully process what he had said. “What!?”

“I have to admit, I didn’t expect to be this spoiled for choice,” Cash continued, rolling so that he was on his back, his head hanging off the statue’s side. “I knew there was you, of course. I imagined you’d be getting this little number.” He tapped the statue’s necklace. “Loyalty was –ha!– not a good look for you. But, well, when Umbra calls, you take whoever works.”

“You’re giving them the Elements?” Charisma sputtered. “What… Why?”

“It’s called a Harmony Event,” Cash said, as if that meant anything to her. “And unless you’re a god, you need five other ponies bearing Elements to make it work. I am many things, Charisma, but I am not a god.” He grinned again. “Yet.”

Charisma’s heart skipped a beat. “You’re going to make yourself a god?”

He waved a hoof noncommittally in the air. “It’s an option. That’s the problem when you have too many choices, it’s so hard to settle on one. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that once everyone’s properly accessorized, we need to go and collect the Element of Laughter and a bearer for that.”

“Are you just expecting them to follow like nice little sheep?” Charisma stamped a hoof, cracking a tile. “They’re coming here to kill us, Max!”

“That’s where you’ll come in,” he said. “Loyalty is a funny thing. They don’t actually have to like you to follow you.” He flashed her a knowing look. “Right?”

“I can’t do that, remember?” she snarled.

“I think you’ll find it much easier to work on other Bearers,” Cash said, rolling off the statue and back to the ground. “You’ve done it already, after all. From your hospital bed, no less!”

“But that was…” she trailed off, unable to shake the feeling that he was right.

“That was everything I needed it to be. Just like you always have been.” The smile he sent her way this time was vicious enough that her wings spread in alarm. “You know, I think you deserve a treat. We’re heading north anyway, why don’t we visit the folks, huh? I know you haven’t seen your parents since you were a filly. Now’s a great time to catch up.”

“No,” Charisma hissed. “We are not discussing that. Ever.”

“Oh, come on,” he teased. “I’m sure they have a lot to say to you. And you have so much to tell them! Maybe you can tell them about your boyfriend. Or the money you’ve been making working for me. Or! How about you tell them how many people you’ve killed. I’m sure they’d be fascinated to know their daughter’s got the highest single-pony body count since, well, ever!”

“Max, stop.” Her heart was thudding in her chest. She didn’t understand why he was doing this. He’d always backed off before when she refused to talk about her family.

“If I was them, I’d be terribly proud that my little girl had such a wonderful Talent. You know, I think they could even use a demonstration. You’ve still got one brother left, right? Or maybe a more… personal demonstration is in order?”

“Max!” she shrieked.

“You know, there’s something I’ve always wanted to ask,” he continued, undeterred. “How did it feel? When you killed your brother?”

Her entire body went rigid, wings splayed and quivering with the sudden cold fury that lashed through her.

“I’ve seen you when you kill people, and, well, there’s just this look in your eyes that reminds me of other mares in, ah, personal moments. Now, I could be wrong. I’ve never really had an interest in that sort of thing, but I’ve given it the old college try once or twice. Lyssa –you remember Lyssa, right? Pegasus, brown, about half my age, way too eager to please, you crushed her throat once? Yeah, she got that same look as I was saying some, in retrospect, very unlikely things about her prospects for promotion. I’m also pretty sure her seducing me for career advancement was pretty blatant sexual harassment, but, hey, it’s what got her going.” His grin set her coat standing on end as he turned it on her. “And we all know what gets you going, don’t we, Charisma?”

“Drop it, Max. Please,” she didn’t know why she was pleading with him. She knew it never worked. “I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but… but just stop.”

“No, really, I’m curious. You were, what? Twelve? Thirteen?”

“Ten,” she said in a whisper.

He laughed. “Ten! You really were an early bloomer! So, standing over the broken, bloody body of your beloved older brother, did you feel the same thrill you get now? Or did that come later?”

“Shut up.”

“Was it the second person you killed where it kicked in? Or, hey! How about the third? They always say the third time’s the charm, after all!”

“Shut! Up!”

“No, I bet it was the brother. I can only imagine what kind of experience that was, to find your Talent and your kink all at once! I saw the photos, you know, and Luna’s night it’s astounding how much damage a ten year old filly can do to a body. To do that to someone you must have been really into it. You had to love it.” He let out a giggle that scraped the last shred of control from her frayed nerves. “More than you loved him, at least.”

She launched herself forward, crossing the temple in an instant to slam into him and ram him into the ground at the hooves of the statue. Her rage and her Talent demanded that she end him, but still she held off. “Why?” she snarled through clenched teeth. “Why are you goading me? I don’t want to kill you, but you’re making it very hard.”

“Come on, Charisma,” he said with a chuckle. “Can’t a guy just be cruel for Cruelty’s sake?” She pushed away from him, stumbling back as her heart raced and her Talent screamed at her to finish it. He clambered up, his slow laughter filling the fallen temple with strange echoes that sounded like a chorus of different voices at once. She tried to back off, but the ground had become twisted and strange, and she only succeeded in falling to her rump. The world was bubbling and stretching around her, like it had in the ambulance. Time and distance seemed to fold in on themselves, and he was at the center of it all. Her eyes went to the statue, and she could see a faint glow coming from the butterfly gem at its throat. “And here we go,” he said, then reached out to claim the Element of Cruelty.

An explosion of pink light and roaring thunder rocked the cracked stone walls. The world snapped back to normal as Cash was thrown across the temple and into the far wall next to the door hard enough to loosen the bricks and leave an indent. He fell to the ground, bloody spittle spraying from his mouth as he fought a choking, wheezing battle to draw breath.

Charisma sat there for a stunned moment. He had been using her again. It was something she was used to, and yet he had never done anything like that before. Her anger still raged but it was a wildfire with nothing to burn. She didn’t know how she could ever follow him again after what he’d said. Yet she knew that she would. She would get up, say something angry and snarky, and he would laugh. She knew he would find some way past whatever had gone wrong here, he always did. Then he would go on blithely continuing to treat her like his personal assassin. Which she was. The worst part was that what he had said was so brutally true. If he brought her to her family, if he told her to kill them, she would. And she would enjoy it.

She thought on that as Cash slowly climbed to his hooves. Distantly a part of her noted that Rainbow Dash was near, and her mind drifted to that strangely personal sense of the other mare. She looked towards the door to the temple, her eyes fixed on the northern sky.

Cash roared with an anger that she had never heard from him before. He barrelled past Charisma, his forehooves flailing at the statue. The light pulsed again, and once more he was thrown across the length of the Temple. “You bitch!” he screamed as he dragged himself up from the floor again. “You lying, traitorous, bunny-cuddling bitch!”

She could feel Dash somewhere close by. She dove into that connection, allowing the Element of Loyalty to show her the true depth of their bond. For a moment it was like she could feel two hearts beating in her chest, like she could feel a phantom wind in her wings and a strange weight dragging behind her. Thoughts that weren’t hers flitted through her head. Names and faces. Some she knew, some she didn’t: Astrid, Star Fall, Hard Boiled, Traduce, Applejack, Calumn, Blaze. She felt an involuntary shudder as she discovered that Dash was bringing her sometime-lover along. Rainbow Dash’s thoughts stuttered as she registered the spike of complex lust that Charisma had just felt.

With a start, she realized that the connection between them was two-way. As she was hearing Dash’s thoughts, so too was the other mare hearing hers. She recoiled from that, letting the sense of the bond fade, though it refused to disappear. Yet she stayed immersed in the Element as Cash once more attempted to wrest the necklace from the statue, and was once more violently rebuffed. It was her loyalties that had allowed him to hurt her. Her bond with her family, as well as her bond to him. 

“Charisma!” he snapped, getting her attention. “Get up and help me here! You’re pretty mean, maybe it’ll like you better!”

She delved into the Element, desperately seeking any way to break the bonds that threatened to destroy her. In her rising desperation she found a place in the Element that she had only touched strongly once before, when she had broken whatever had been happening with the Element of Laughter. She’d brushed it since, when she broke bonds, but never went as deeply as that first time. Not knowing what else to do, she dove into that place, willing it to help her.

It was like a switch being flipped. The fear, the anger, the uncertainty, all of it was gone. She could still feel Rainbow Dash as if they shared a body, but it didn’t bother her anymore. In fact, she kind of liked it. It sent a frisson of delightful anticipation through her. Dimly, she thought she could see the color washing out of her mane and coat, leaving her dark and gray. A second glance showed nothing different, so she dismissed it and rose to her hooves. She turned to Cash with a wide grin spreading across her face. “No,” she said.

He paused in his efforts, blinking at her in surprise. “No? Um… no what?”

“No, I’m not going to do what you want,” she said. “I’m done with you. With everyone. Done with the Kingdom, done with missions and orders and all the things that hold me back. I’m amazed I ever thought I needed you at all.”

He stared at her slack-jawed for a moment before his smile returned. It wasn’t as wide or as wild as it had been, though, now it was a look of resignation more than anything else. “Well, looks like somebody found out how to Invert her Element. So, what are you gonna do now?”

“Oh, Max,” she said, laughing and stepping up to him to lay a hoof on his cheek. “Whatever I want.” She shoved hard enough to take him right off his hooves and slammed his head into the ground. She laughed at the dazed look on his face. “Things aren’t going so well for you, are they? I wonder, did you ever even have a plan?”

He spat blood and sneered at her. “Of course I did. I still do.”

“So how’s it going? This plan of yours?”

His lips trembled with fury, his ears laid flat. “It’s a minor setback. I just need something more to make it work. I just have to wait for it. It’s like destiny, it’ll come. I will have that Element.”

“Right. Destiny. Like how you could just slip it off? What a joke.” She picked him up, standing on her rear legs to hold him high in the air. “I guess someone really does have to die, huh?” She spun, throwing him into the wall hard enough to shake dust down from the ceiling. She was on him before he was halfway to the floor, slamming him right back into the stone. “Maybe that’s why you really needed me here. Someone you could goad into killing you. As if that couldn’t have been literally anyone who’s met you for more than five minutes. If that’s what you wanted, then top marks, Max! You finally pushed me into it.” She shook her head. “So what’s the new plan, Max? What happens when you die? Do I get all the Elements and try the whole ‘ascend to godhood’ thing?”

“Please,” he scoffed. “You wouldn’t know the first thing of what to do with the Elements. You’d probably just give them to the Kingdom and beg the King to let you kill republicans for him again. No. It doesn’t matter what you do here, I’m going to get the Elements.”

“Oh, so you’re just expecting to not be dead after I kill you. Is that it?”

He held her gaze for a moment before looking away, and she saw a flash of something she had never expected from him: doubt. “Something like that.” 

She laughed and tossed him to the ground. “You really are crazy.” She threw her head back and let out a sound that was half-laugh and half-scream, filled with joy and frustration. The cry vibrated through the air, making the dust she had loosened dance in the light. “After all this time, all the things I’ve done for you–”

“Don’t pretend you didn’t enjoy doing them!”

She kicked him in the stomach, and he curled up, coughing and wheezing. “After everything… and you’re just another nutcase.”

“At least,” he choked out, looking up at her with one wild eye, “I’m in good company.”

She kicked him again, then placed a hoof on his left shoulder, feeling around for the right pressure point. “You made me promises, Max.” She pressed down, and Max Cash let out a high-pitched shriek of pain. He tried to shake her hoof off, but she was too experienced at this to be thrown off easily. “It’s time for you to pay up.” She pressed down hard, holding him in place with the strength of one hoof as he writhed in agony.

She let him squirm in terrible pain for a long minute before easing off and allowing him to catch his breath. “You have it!” he screamed out as soon as he could. She paused, letting off the pressure entirely. He curled up, breath coming in irregular hitches, entire body shaking. With the pain she knew she had just inflicted, it took her a moment to realize that he was laughing.

She took a cautious step back from him. “What do you mean, ‘I have it’?”

He shoved himself to a sitting position, leaning back against the wall. Despite the residual pain he still had to be feeling, a wide, manic grin was plastered on his face. “I promised you a chance to fulfill your Talent,” he said, chuckling. “A chance to share your gift with the entire world.”

“You did.”

“Well, you have it!” He let out a wild, braying laugh that made her wince. He lifted a shaking hoof to point at the gem hanging from her neck. “You think a few parlor tricks and creative murder are all it can do? You have no idea what kind of power you wield now.” He leaned up towards her, and she could feel the emptiness in him again. The Elements were nearly done in their work, he was barely more than a shell. “Think about it, Charisma. Think about all you can do, then stop thinking so small. You want to kill the world? Then do it!”

She took another step back. Her anger fled, leaving in its place a warm certainty that he was right, and a cold confusion as to what that meant. “I…”

“What are you afraid of?” he pressed, crawling closer to her even as she retreated from the hollow madness in his gaze. “It’s what you were promised. What you wanted more than anything.”

“I never thought…”

“Oh ye of little faith.” He laughed again. “I fulfill my promises. Always. I gave you the power you wanted. All I need you to do is hold up your end.”

She looked to the statue. The butterfly gleamed in the sunlight. “You can’t get it,” she said. 

“I will,” he said. “That’s inevitable. Granted, I don’t know how anymore. But trust me, it will happen.”

She snorted. “And you think it’ll matter once I’ve killed the world?”

“Charisma,” he said slowly. “It’s the only thing that’s ever mattered.”

She smirked at him. “We’ll see about that. Have a good time throwing yourself against a wall, Max. It’s been… fun.” With that she turned away, strutting out of the temple with a light step. 

She stood in the sun and took a deep breath. The air seemed clearer, the sticky humidity barely felt. She looked out over the jungle and with help from the Element of Loyalty she spotted her quarry hovering over the trees. She may have broken her bonds to her family and to Cash, but the connection to Rainbow Dash was stronger than ever. That was good, she had unfinished business with the mare. “Ready or not,” she sing-songed. “Here I come.”



***



The next thing Rainbow Dash knew, she was falling towards the jungle canopy, the chariot spinning end over end and taking her with it. She tried to use her wings, but for a terrifying moment they wouldn’t respond. Then, with a stuttering flutter she regained control of her limbs and began flapping like crazy. The harness restricted her movements, and the spinning of the chariot was disorienting, but it wasn’t like she hadn’t been in a situation like this before. She’d tried doing tricks while pulling weights before, and sometimes they went wrong. Granted, she’d never tried it with such a large and heavy weight full of her friends, but the principles were the same.

She angled her wings, focusing on stopping the spin before she tried to halt the descent. It took several dizzying seconds, but she managed it. However, by the time she’d levelled the chariot out the jungle was terrifyingly close. Her wings went into overdrive, each flap creating enormous thrust to counter the downward momentum. Star Fall’s spell had winked out when she lost concentration inside, which only made the strain on Dash harder, but she was still riding the wave of mysterious energy, so she was able to handle it. 

It was a testament to Rainbow Dash’s strength as a flier that she was able to bring the chariot to a halt while still nearly a thousand feet above the trees. She held it there, extending her magic to buoy the whole vehicle up on the strength of her wings alone. She took several deep breaths, wiped the sweat from her brow, then looked over her shoulder to the carriage’s window. “Hey! Everybody alright in there?”

A moment later the sliding door on the side of the chariot opened and Applejack leaned out. “Dash! Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” Dash replied. “What about you guys?”

“A mite tossed around,” Applejack said. “Nothin’ broken, though. What the heck happened? They said my eyes were glowin’, and I plum fell down just before everythin’ started spinnin’.”

A cold realization hit Dash. “This has happened before… I think we’re too late. I saw a flash of light from the place where Fluttershy’s statue is supposed to be. We’ve been weak like this before, when Cash got Honesty and Generosity.”

“Darn it! We were almost there!” Applejack took off her hat and slapped it against her leg in anger. “Hold on a minute,” she said, then ducked back into the chariot. 

Dash huffed out a breath. She looked back to the temple in the distance, and saw another burst of light from it. That made her frown. If Cash had the Element, why was it still flashing like that?

“Dash!” Applejack said, swinging back out of the door. “Star says we should get there right quick. If we can catch him off guard, we can still stop him here.”

“Hey, AJ,” Dash said, a hope blooming in her chest. “I just saw another flash from the temple. I don’t think Cash actually has the Element yet! We might still have a chance!”

“That’s great, Dash! Here, let me talk to the others for a moment,” Applejack went back in.

“Yeah. Okay, I guess I’ll just wait here, then. You know, I’m just holding you all up. Not like it’s hard or anything,” Dash groused. It truly wasn’t as hard as she’d been expecting, but she felt like complaining anyway. She wanted to be in on the discussion, but even her keen ears weren’t hearing more than muffled conversation from inside the chariot. As she was thinking about them, a sense of being right next to someone else suddenly overtook her. It was like she could feel another heart beating right along with hers, and a surge of excitement that had a deep, sexual edge to it washed through her. She started, almost losing the rhythm of her wings that kept the chariot aloft. The strangeness faded quickly, but she already knew what it was: Charisma and the Element of Loyalty. She didn’t understand it, but somehow they were connected.

She shook the lingering sense of the murderous pegasus away, focusing instead on keeping her wings going. She wished that her friends would hurry up and tell her what they were taking so long to discuss, but it was a long, uncomfortable few minutes before Applejack appeared again.

“Alright, we got a plan,” she said as Star Fall’s spell started up again, surrounding the chariot in her crimson aura. “We want you to set us down at the edge of the clearin’, then get up high and be on the lookout for Charisma. We’re gonna head to the Temple and Star’ll use some spell or other to try to tie them up long enough for the rest of us to get in. You see her spell go off, you come runnin’ right in. There’s no tellin’ how long we have before Charisma gets a shot at one of us.”

“Got it. Get your head back inside, we’re–”

She never got out the rest of her sentence, as suddenly the sense of Charisma that had settled into the back of her mind suddenly jumped forward again. Her head whipped around and she watched as a streak of pink and red launched itself from the entrance to the temple. It described a high arc whose apex was lost in the sun before coming back down right at them with blurring speed. Dash tried to shift her wings to forward motion, but the chariot was too heavy to respond quickly, and it had only just started moving by the time Charisma struck.

“Aww horseapples,” was all Applejack managed to utter in the moment before the pink streak hit them, and once more Rainbow Dash was spinning through the air in an uncontrolled fall.



***



Charisma smashed into them like a meteor. The supports connecting pegasus to carriage snapped instantly, sending the chariot spinning away in one direction while Dash went hurtling in another. Applejack was thrown off by the impact, crying out in fear as she fell to the jungle below. 

Within the chariot, Star Fall screamed as her wings were wrenched by the sudden feedback from her spell and her body was thrown against the chariot wall. “Fall!” Astrid cried, then roared with effort as she forced herself across the small cabin, wrapped her forelegs around her charge, and took off with a mighty leap that sent them both out the open door. 

“Follow them!” HB snarled, pushing against the spin and reaching the door.

“You can’t fly!” Traduce hissed back.

“You either catch me or you don’t!” HB replied. “We’re dead for sure if we stay in here!” With that he threw himself from the chariot. Traduce was a half second behind, green fire already changing her into pegasus form. 

Blaze took hold of Calumn. “Wait for it…” Calumn said, holding a hoof up to stall Blaze. The dizzying g-forces only got worse, and with every rotation the green jungle was getting ever closer. Still, Blaze waited, his gaze fixed firmly on his friend. “Now!” Calumn said, and both of them leapt from the chariot at the same time. They hit the upper reaches of the canopy and disappeared.

The chariot crashed down, smashing through a thick tree trunk and promptly disintegrating into a dozen fragments of warped, broken metal.



***



High above, Astrid held Star Fall tight, her wings straining as she regained control of their tumbling plummet. “Fall!” she cried, frantically looking over her friend for injuries. “You okay?”

Star Fall hissed in a pained breath. “My wings,” she said, the limbs in question hanging limp from her sides. “Spell feedback… Dislocated… I think. Hurts like a bastard.”

“I bet. I’ll take a look when we get a moment.”

“Dash, the others, did you see where they went?”

Astrid glanced around her. “Looks like detective blue butt got caught by his insect girlfriend. They’re dropping fast, so I guess she’s not strong enough to hold him up. No idea what happened to the mouth and the cape. I’m betting they’re fine, though. Dash? Applejack? No clue, sorry.”

Star Fall snorted. “Not too worried about those two. Charisma?”

Astrid shook her head. “No sign of her.”

“She’s around. We need to get under cover.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Astrid folded her wings half-closed and dove for the canopy.

They touched down in a wide hollow surrounded by massive tree roots. The ground was relatively flat and dry, but carpeted with twigs and leaves that had a springy give under their hooves. Star Fall lay down and let Astrid look at her wings, trying not to cry out.

“Yeah, this one’s out of its socket,” Astrid said, lifting Star Fall’s left wing gingerly. “You need something to bite down on?”

Star Fall shook her head, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. “I’ll be fine. Do it.”

“Okay. On three. One–” She slammed her claw into the joint, popping the wing back into place. Star Fall let out a high-pitched squeak, but managed to clamp down on anything louder.

“How did I know you were going to do that?” she said, forcing a chuckle. “What about the other one?”

Astrid gave the right wing a close look. “It’s still in place. Can you move it?” The wing gave a half-hearted wiggle. “That’s good. Just pulled the muscle. No flying for a while, though.”

“Damn.” Star Fall pushed herself upright. With an effort that had her ears laid flat and her knees shaking she folded her wings against her side, then relaxed as they held their place without further effort or pain. “We need to find the others. Do you remember where you saw them fall?”

“Yeah, no guarantee they stayed there, though.”

Star Fall nodded. “It’s a place to start looking, at least. We’ll have to be quick, and we’ll have to make sure we aren’t spotted by Charisma.”

“Too late for that.”

They stiffened, then looked up in unison to see Charisma herself lounging casually atop one of the huge roots. “Fall, run!” Astrid screeched, flaring her wings and leaping at Charisma with all the grace and ferocity her kind were uniquely capable of.

Charisma went from supine to combat-ready in an eyeblink, her movements so fast she seemed to blur in Astrid’s eyes. Laughing, she jumped to meet Astrid’s leap, trailing a streak of pink and red in the air. The Griffin led with her claws, talons gleaming wickedly sharp, but Charisma’s grin just widened. She contorted her body, almost curling into a ball as she came on. A flutter of her wings reversed her forward momentum at the last moment, letting her hover tantalizingly just out of Astrid’s reach. Then her rear hooves kicked out, each intercepting a claw and smashing them out to the sides. One talon even shattered as it met a hoof head-on and proved to be the weaker. Even as Astrid’s eyes were widening, Charisma reached in, taking the Griffin’s head between her forehooves and twisting. 

It was only years of experience and exceptionally honed instinct that saved Astrid’s life. She hadn’t even consciously registered what her opponent was doing before she was spinning in the direction Charisma was pulling. Instead of having her neck broken, she was sent whirling off to crash into the underbrush. She wasted no time in scrambling back to the hollow, but Charisma wasn’t slowing down, either.

Star Fall had turned to run, but only made it a few steps before Charisma was on her. The enforcer hit Star Fall’s rear right leg as it was extended behind her, and it snapped like a dry twig. Star Fall collapsed, letting out a scream of shock and pain. Astrid swooped down, slashing at Charisma, but she leapt into a backflip to avoid it, floating down to land with a dancer’s poise a few paces away.

Astrid stood over Star Fall, setting herself in a wide, protective stance. Memories of her last fight with Charisma flashed through her head. She’d fared poorly then, and with the gleam of the Element of Loyalty impossible to miss she knew that this time she had no chance at all. Still, she was prepared to go down fighting. Maybe it would buy enough time for Dash or Applejack to find them. It wasn’t a strong hope, but it was all she could get.

Charisma, fortunately, seemed inclined to taunt them instead of finishing them both in an unstoppable blur of violence and death. “You’re a little far from home, my Lady,” she said, her voice pitched to perfectly emulate the warm tones of a palace servant. The vicious smirk on her face, however, was one of open contempt. “Oh, my apologies, I meant your Highness!” She dipped into a practiced bow, her eyes never leaving the two. “You certainly are moving up in the world. Though, honestly, I prefer you crawling in the dirt.” She started circling them, slow steps made so lightly they barely disturbed the carpet of leaves. Astrid was forced to follow her movements, carefully maintaining her guard for all the good it would do. “He knew you were coming,” Charisma continued. “Max. Somehow he knew you would all be here for his glorious moment.” She snickered. “Well, he was half right, at least.”

Star Fall glared at Charisma with hate and pain. Her coat was already covered with sweat and her breath coming in ragged gasps. Astrid didn’t look back at her charge, not daring to take her eyes off the deadly pegasus. “Fall, I could really use some magical backup right now,” she said as quietly as she could. The twitch of Charisma’s ear, and the way her smile widened ever so slightly told Astrid that her words hadn’t been quiet enough.

“Can’t… focus…” Star Fall managed to growl out in response.

“Fuck.” Astrid watched Charisma, unsure of why they weren’t dead yet. It wouldn’t have been hard for her. So why wasn’t she attacking? She thought she had an answer, and she hoped it was the right one. “So, what’s it gonna be, killer?” she asked. “You want a rematch, we’re right here.”

“A rematch,” Charisma repeated, laughing. “Why would I want something like that?”

“Because last time we tangled, Fall here punted your skinny pink ass like a hoofball.”

Charisma’s smile faded a bit, but didn’t vanish entirely. “You know, you’re right about that.”

“Astrid… not… helping…” Star Fall said, the apprehension in her voice clear through the pain. 

“Don’t worry, Fall, I know her secret.” She flashed a raptor’s grin at Charisma. “If she wanted us dead, we’d be corpses by now. I think she’s got orders to keep us alive.”

Charisma’s eyes went wide and Astrid’s hope surged. Then the enforcer threw her head back and laughed. Astrid catapulted herself forward in that moment of inattention, talons leading. Charisma’s response was a casual punch that blew past Astrid’s guard and struck her squarely on the chest, knocking the air out of her and halting her charge before her claws even came close to drawing blood. She hung on Charisma’s hoof, the pegasus holding her much heavier body up without any apparent effort. Charisma drew Astrid in close, her wings snapping out to knock the Griffin’s slashing claws away. She spun the warrior around as if she were no more than a child, wrapping a foreleg around her throat and forcing her head back painfully. 

“You’re right again,” Charisma said. She spoke quietly next to Astrid’s ear, but her voice was rich and warm and delighted, as if seconds away from bursting into song. “He wants you alive for some reason that he won’t explain and will probably boil down to you being both special on some cosmic level and easy to manipulate. It’s just your bad luck that I chose today to tender my resignation.” She laughed again. “Such an odd phrase, don’t you think? It’s so very republican. Only they would take something as profound as betraying your master and make it sound banal, as if it were no more than handing over a bill of sale.”

“You–!”

Charisma squeezed, cutting off Astrid’s air. “Did I say you could talk?”

“Charisma!” Star Fall screamed out. Charisma’s answering glare was full of hot rage, but Star Fall didn’t flinch back from the death she saw there. The sight of Astrid flailing helplessly as she suffocated was far worse. “Let her go!”

Surprisingly, Charisma threw Astrid down, letting her roll away and back to Star Fall’s side. “Why of course, Your Highness. Why your every desire is my joy to fulfill!” She swept into another elaborate bow, her eyes flashing with unhidden ire even as her mouth curved back into a wicked smirk.

“Enough!” Star Fall snapped. She wasn’t going into shock from her broken leg, thankfully, but that also meant that she was feeling every minute like fiery pokers shoved into her flesh. She was focusing through the pain, but she would need a few moments longer before she could reliably charge one of her pre-scribed spell sheets. “I’m not responsible for your treatment in the Kingdom. And quite frankly I couldn’t care less about your petty resentments against the ruling class.”

“Is it petty to want to do what you were made for?” Charisma asked. “Every pony comes into this world with a purpose, their destiny stamped on their hips for all to see. My Talent is no less magical than yours. No less a gift from Celestia. But unlike you, Princess, nobody wants me to use it!” Charisma’s wings flared, but quickly drooped to the ground as her expression changed from cruel to wistful. “But that’s not going to be a problem for much longer. Max gave me everything I need. I’ve just got one… one more thing to do, and it’ll all be over. For everyone.”

Both Astrid and Star Fall flinched back at that pronouncement. “You can’t,” Star Fall said. “It’s not possible.” But she didn’t know. The powers of the Elements were still too vague, not even Spike knew the full extent of what they were capable of. 

Charisma looked down to the Element. “Is it? We’ll find out. One way or another.” When she looked up again the cruel grin was back in place. “Until then, though, I need you for something.”

“Why do I have the feeling I don’t want to know what that is,” Astrid breathed, readying herself for another futile attack.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Charisma said with a chuckle. “I really only need one of you. Now, which of you do you think can scream the loudest? I need to make sure Rainbow Dash hears it.”

Astrid’s eyes narrowed. “By Celestia I swear I will wipe that smile from your face.”

Charisma laughed again. “Oh you poor Griffin, didn’t you know? We’re in the nightlands now, and you’re swearing by the wrong sister.” Her eyes narrowed with intense focus and the teardrop gem at her chest flashed with ruby brilliance. “I think Luna deserves an apology. Why don’t you give it to her in person?”

Astrid was about to snarl something back when her eyes went wide. Something had changed, something terribly important. A moment later her feet left the ground, though she hadn’t started flying. She scrabbled for purchase, but the loose leaves and twigs offered her nothing. She flapped her wings wildly, but that only made it worse. She was falling. Straight up. 

“Astrid!” Star Fall cried, reaching for her friend, too late. Astrid vanished past the canopy, screeching in rage and fear. Star Fall lay still for a quiet moment, her heart throbbing in her chest as she slowly turned to look back at Charisma.

“You know,” the pegasus enforcer said as she took a lazy step forward. “I first learned to torture as a way to control my Talent. Gamma thought that learning to hurt someone without killing them would help me ignore the… need.” She paused for a moment, gaze turning inward. Star Fall had only begun to reach for a spell-sheet before Charisma was moving again. “It didn’t work, of course. Nothing does. Still, it does make for a good life skill to have.” She stood above Star Fall, her right forehoof raised and hovering just above the break in Star Fall’s leg.

Star Fall’s mind raced, trying to think of something, anything, that would buy her more time. “It doesn’t have to be like this, Charisma,” she babbled out, trying desperately to free one of her spell-sheets without the enforcer noticing. “If you’ve broken from Cash we can make a deal, get you immunity for what you’ve done! Help bring him down and… and…” She wracked her brain for something to offer that was realistic enough not to be laughed off immediately. Her hoof caught on one of her spells, pulling it slowly from its protective sleeve. 

“Hmm, no.” Charisma’s hoof dropped and every thought fled Star Fall’s mind, replaced by a grinding agony that shot fire up her spine. Her wings flailed uselessly, only adding to the pain as their own injuries were aggravated by the motion. She kicked out at her tormentor, her attempts met with stoic immobility, as if she were kicking a statue. A scream ripped itself from her throat, filling her ears with the sound of her own anguish. 

It seemed to go on forever, and when it ended she collapsed to her side and heaved in gulping breaths, sweating and shuddering as if she had just run a marathon. She retched up a splatter of stinking bile, barely able to pull her head away from the mess. Tears filled her eyes as she looked up at Charisma, who was staring into the jungle with her ears swivelling. “Come on, hot stuff, I know you’re out there.” She waited for another few seconds before looking back down to Star Fall. Then she leaned in close and lapped at the tears that fell from Star Fall’s eyes. “I guess you’re just not screaming loud enough. Maybe you’ll put more effort into it if I break a few more of your legs. What do you think?” Unable to speak, Star Fall frantically thrashed her head from side to side, but she knew from the dark smile on Charisma’s face that it was futile. “No? You want me to get a little more creative? Alright then.”

Charisma pulled out Star Fall’s left foreleg, holding it to the ground with ease as the scholarly pegasus renewed her struggles. She placed the edge of her hoof at the joint between Star Fall’s hoof and leg, then slowly pressed down. Star Fall could do nothing but scream again, the pain secondary to the horrifying knowledge that she was about to watch herself lose a hoof, and that there was nothing she could do to stop it.



***



Dash opened her eyes to find a world turned upside down. It took her a long, confused moment to realize that it wasn’t the world that was flipped over, it was her. She looked up at her body to find it tangled in thick vines that hung from the branches of one of the enormous jungle trees. A fading pain in her head told her she had gone face-first into the tree before falling into her current position. Her thoughts slowly brought themselves back together, and she was experienced enough with the post-faceplant recovery period not to try to rush it or panic.

“Charisma,” she said aloud, remembering the pink and red streak of light slamming into her. The other mare had been fast, but not so much that Dash wouldn’t be able to dodge. Something had held her back, something that was very important and on the tip of her tongue. 

“The chariot!” Dash cried, everything coming back to her at once. Her heart sped to a pounding rush as she realized that her friends were in danger. She struggled with the vines, but they resisted her strength by simply giving her no leverage to work with. Growling in frustration, she slowed down and focused on disentangling herself. It only took a minute, but it felt like an eternity.

Once she was free she shot up through the trees, bursting into the sunlight in a fountain of trailing rainbows. She shaded her eyes with a hoof as she scanned the canopy, looking for any sign of her lost companions. The ruins weren’t too far away, flashes of pink light periodically strobing from within the temple. She ignored it, though every flash sent a small flutter of anxiety through her guts. Closer by she spotted a gap in the canopy where several branches had been smashed through. She took off for that point, diving into the jungle and discovering the wreckage of the chariot lying in crumpled pieces at the base of a tree.

She stopped to hover over the crash site, worried eyes looking for any signs of life. In a way it was good that the chariot had been so thin-walled, the way it was smashed made it easy to tell that there had been no one inside it when it hit. Unfortunately, if her friends had bailed out before the crash it left her back at square one when it came to finding them.

“Okay, okay, calm down,” she told herself, alighting next to the wreckage. “Just stop and think. Think! They can’t be far. They’d want to stay low because of Charisma. So where are they going?” The answer was plain. “The ruins!” 

She rocketed into the trees, dodging branches and vines with the famous precision that had allowed her to navigate the notoriously difficult Ghastly Gorge back in her own time. She kept her speed down enough that she wouldn’t leave a telltale streak of rainbows behind her, though. It would do no good to find her friends just to lead Charisma right to them. 

Her eyes scanned the jungle as she took a zig-zagging path through it, picking out any hint of color that could be a friend. Unfortunately there were plenty of colorful birds and other creatures that called the jungle home, and every single one she encountered made her pause for a moment, costing precious seconds where absolutely anything could be happening to her companions. When she burst out into the clearing where the ruins were, it took only a few seconds to determine that her friends weren’t there, and so she plunged back into the jungle. 

It took several trips and a half dozen agonizing minutes, but finally she saw a copper flash. She was moving towards it in an instant, her wings pumping as she zoomed towards the source of the light. She burst out of the foliage, dragging enough air to rattle the trees and kick up a small storm of leaves and twigs. Four voices cried out in surprise, and Dash had to dodge as Hard Boiled fired his pistol at her.

“Hey!” she cried out. “It’s me, guys! Stop shooting!”

“Damn it!” HB swore, pointing his gun at the ground. “Are you trying to get yourself killed? Don’t just jump out at people like that!” She didn’t understand the words, but his tone was clear enough. It was his horn-light that she had seen, the aura of his telekinesis holding his weapon. 

“He says it’s good to see you, Dash,” Trail Blazer said, grinning up at her. Beside him, Calumn just gave Dash a small smile from under his cloak. They were looking more beat up than HB and Traduce, their clothes covered with dirt and a little dried blood staining the fur around Blaze’s nose.

“Did you see Astrid and the Princess?” Traduce asked. She had taken on the yellow earth pony form that Dash had first seen her in back in Orion City and didn’t look too injured, but there was a tremble in her withers that Dash’s keen eyes caught. She recognized bad muscle strain when she saw it, and guessed she had tried carrying someone from the crashing chariot. 

“No. I was looking, but I haven’t seen anybody but you guys. What happened to Applejack?”

“She got knocked into the jungle, I don’t know where,” Traduce replied.

Dash worried at her lip for a moment before nodding. “She’ll be fine. Look, the ruins are over that way.” She pointed a hoof. “I’ll keep looking for the others, but you have to get there. Something’s going down, and I think Cash is really close to getting Kindness.”

“What about Charisma?” Blaze asked.

“I’ll deal with her,” Dash promised. “I’m just worried abo–” Her voice failed her, as did her wings, and she fell sprawling on the jungle floor.

“Dash!” Calumn cried out, and they all rushed to her side. 

“Her eyes are glowing,” HB said, brows drawing down in a worried frown. “Just like Applejack’s. What the hell is going on here?”

“Dash, are you ok?” Blaze asked.

“They’re in trouble!” Dash said, rising to a sitting position so fast she nearly headbutted Blaze. The weakness passed as quickly as it had come on, and in its place was new energy and a terrible certainty. “Star and Astrid! They’re hurt! Charisma found them!”

“How does she know this?” Hard Boiled asked, though it was obvious he didn’t expect an answer.

“I gotta go save them,” Dash said, flapping her wings to rise once more into the air. 

“Someone should go with her,” Blaze said, earning confused looks from the others. “You know, if Star and Astrid are hurt, then someone should, like, take care of them, right? Get them out of the way so Dash can do her fighty-punchy thing with Charisma?”

“That’s… not a bad idea,” Dash said.

She was so worried about her friends, Dash missed the subtle flick Blaze gave Calumn with his tail. The Changeling startled for a moment, then spoke up. “I’ll go.”

A scream sounded from somewhere deeper in the jungle, the sound filled with incredible pain. Dash’s heart pounded faster. “That was Star,” she said. “I gotta go, now. Calumn, can you make your own way there?”

“I can find you,” he replied, flashing his fangs. 

That was all Dash needed. In the next instant she was gone, a streak of rainbow light slashing through the jungle with enough speed that the pressure of her passing dug furrows in the dirt. Another scream sounded, closer and more urgent, and she honed in on the cry. She roared into the hollow at over a hundred miles an hour. She barely had time to register the scene before her: Charisma standing over a prone Star Fall, who had blood spurting from the ragged stump of her foreleg. 

Dash flipped in the air, bringing her rear legs up to smash into Charisma with a brutal flying kick that sent the enforcer careening back to crash into the side of a massive root. Her wings flaring wide to bring her to an instant stop, Rainbow Dash dropped in front of Star Fall. The other pegasus was breathing in harsh, whinnying gasps as she clutched her maimed leg close, twisting and twitching with pain. But when she looked at Dash there was strength in her eyes, and she managed to force a savage smile onto her trembling lips. “Took you… long enough.”

“Oh no, Star, I’m so sorry,” Dash whispered, staring in horror at the bloody stump. 

“Don’t be... sorry,” Star Fall said, her eyes tracking to where Charisma was picking herself up off the ground. “Be... angry!”

Dash turned away from her fallen friend and towards the one who had hurt her. “You,” she snarled. Her eyes narrowed in righteous fury and she pawed at the ground with one forehoof, muscles tensing. “Don’t you ever…” she began in a hoarse whisper before trailing off. She stared at her enemy, feeling a burning resolve fill her. At Charisma’s chest, a changed Element of Loyalty pulsed its ruby light in time with the flames that spread through Dash’s veins. “Don’t you ever lay another hoof on my friends!”

Charisma met her gaze for a long moment, then grinned. “Hey, hot stuff,” she said, a joyful lilt in her voice. “It’s about time we saw who’d really win, don’t you think?”

“You’re going down!” Dash snapped out, crouching low and ready.

Charisma flared her wings and set herself in a ready stance of her own. “Give me your best shot.”

Dash didn’t wait. She launched herself at her opponent, wings blurring and her hoof winding up for a powerful, crushing blow. She moved so quickly that she created a vacuum in her wake, the air collapsing in on the sudden void with a sound like thunder and creating a vortex that swirled with the colors of her ethereal trail. A part of her recognized that a punch like this could kill the other pony, and recoiled from the act. The rest of her, with the visceral image of Star Fall’s severed hoof front and center, didn’t have a problem with it. She knew she couldn’t hold back this time, couldn’t afford to play the hero. She bore down on her target with all the fury her heart could muster, intent on ending it now, with the first strike… and hesitated.

In that moment of indecision, Charisma dodged. Her body swayed away from the strike so that Dash’s hoof actually brushed the pink coat of her muzzle before sailing past and crashing into the root. The wood exploded at the contact, the entire tree shuddering as the huge root seemed to detonate like a grenade. 

There was a moment where time slowed to a crawl, as Rainbow Dash was passing by Charisma. They stared into each other’s eyes, faces so close their noses nearly touched. Dash’s eyes were wide with surprise and rage. Charisma’s were hot and eager, a wickedly gleeful grin showing her teeth. Woodchips from the destroyed root hung in the air, spinning flechettes that floated their lazy way past in the slow-motion instant of recognition between the two ponies. 

Then the moment was over, and they were moving in a screaming blur of speed and light. 

Charisma reached for Dash, who twisted to bring all her hooves to bear on the enforcer and moved to block. The reach had been a feint, though, and as Dash blocked she found her left foreleg trapped. Charisma swung out, aiming for Dash’s head. The move almost blindsided Dash, but she managed to bring up her free foreleg to catch the attack. There was a moment of intense tension as they tested their strength against each other, and found themselves evenly matched. 

Then Charisma’s head snapped forward, aiming to smash in Dash’s nose. Reacting with incredible speed that still very nearly wasn’t enough, Dash turned her head and caught the blow on her cheek instead. The force of it rattled her teeth, but failed to stun her. She brought her rear legs up, aiming a vicious kick at Charisma’s midsection, but the enforcer let go of the hoof she had captured, while keeping up the tension on their two crossed limbs. The sudden change in leverage swung her body out of the way, causing Dash to miss with her kick. 

Now both airborne, their wings worked furiously to keep them stable and add strength to their attacks. The blows came one after another, lightning quick strikes met with equally fast counters. To Star Fall, watching from the ground, they appeared as brilliant streaks of light that careened all over the hollow. Wherever they touched a solid surface, it exploded in a shower of dirt and debris or reduced wood to flinders. The air was filled with the concussive reports of their blows, the wind from their wings roaring with the force of a hurricane into the jungle around them.

Finally, they broke apart. Dash came to rest protectively in front of Star Fall, while Charisma stopped atop one of the few still-intact roots, staring down at them. They were both breathing heavily, but neither seemed terribly winded yet.

“How are you doing?” Dash asked Star Fall in a quiet voice.

“Bleeding out,” Star Fall replied. “I can’t get blood on my spell-sheets before I activate them or it’ll ruin the pattern, so that option’s out. I need a tourniquet, but I don’t think I can tie one myself.”

“Calumn’s on his way,” Dash assured her. “He’ll get to you in time.”

“That’s… good,” Star Fall replied, pushing down her innate fear of the Changeling. 

“I’m not doing well here, Star,” Dash admitted. “I’m gonna… do you remember what I did back in the Eye?”

Star Fall nodded slowly. “Do whatever it takes.”

“Yes, please do whatever it takes,” Charisma called from her perch. Dash glared at her. She knew from the way her ribs ached and her right hind leg had gone numb that the enforcer had gotten the better of their exchange. Charisma clearly knew it too. She laughed, leaning forward with eager intensity. “Where was all of this at the sunlands dig?” she crowed in delight. “If you had been pulling these moves back then, I wouldn’t have won that fight. Celestia’s light, I’d have been crushed!”

“I didn’t know what you were back then,” Dash replied. “I didn’t understand how… evil you and Cash are.”

“Evil?” Charisma chuckled and shook her head. “Cash, I’ll give you. If anyone deserves that title, it’s him. Me, though? I’m not evil, hot stuff. And I’m not good, either. I’m just the best.”

“You’re still crazy.”

“I’m still better than you,” Charisma snapped back. Then she let a cruel smirk slip onto her face. “But now I’m just as strong and just as tough. Face it, you’re no match for me anymore.”

“Yeah, you’re strong,” Dash said settling herself not into a fighting crouch, but the ready stance she used before a race. “Yeah, you’re tough. But you know what?”

She snapped forward, powerful wings throwing her through the sound barrier so suddenly that the twigs and leaves on the ground ignited with her passage. Even with all that sudden acceleration, Charisma was ready for a charge, limbs moving to counter the punch she knew was coming.

Only, it wasn’t a charge.

Dash stopped in midair, then juked to the right and shot forward again, each move creating new sonic booms that stripped bark from trees and shook the ground like an earthquake. Tough as she was, the successive concussions disoriented Charisma just enough that she didn’t realize that Dash was right next to her until she spoke. 

“I’m still faster.”

Dash hit Charisma with all her fury. The enforcer was thrown through the air from the force of the blow. She struggled to orient herself, but in a flash of rainbow light Dash was ahead of her. She hit Charisma again, this time kicking her up into the air. Once more Dash rushed after her opponent, overtaking her and executing a brutal double-hoofed slam, spiking Charisma into the ground hard enough to leave a small crater. With a scream that held all of her wrath, Rainbow Dash shot downward to ram the prone Charisma with supersonic force. 

At the very last moment she realized she couldn’t do it. When her hoof impacted, it was into the ground right next to Charisma’s head. 

Charisma let out a wheezing laugh. “Still a hero.”

“You’re not worth it,” Dash replied. Then she laid into the other pegasus with a flurry of punches, culminating in a powerful jab to her stomach. Blood exploded from the enforcer’s mouth, her eyes wide with shocked surprise. She reached for Dash, but her limb lost strength halfway through the motion. She collapsed, motionless save for the shallow rise and fall of her breath. 

Dash watched her for a long moment to ensure she wasn’t faking, then rushed out of the crater to Star Fall’s side. There was blood dripping from Star Fall’s ears, nose and eyes, and she trembled like she was freezing, but she was conscious and she looked up to Dash with a question in her eyes. 

“I got her,” Dash said. Star Fall wasn’t able to hear her, but she understood. She gave Dash a wan smile before her eyes rolled back and she passed out. “Hey, Star,” Dash said in alarm, kneeling next to her. “Don’t go out on me, here! Keep it together, alright?” She didn’t know what to do. Her friend could be dying right in front of her, and she had no idea how to deal with it.

Fortunately, salvation chose that moment to appear. “Whoa, did you guys have a bomb-fight?” Calumn said, coming into the remains of the hollow. He spotted Star Fall and his eyes went wide. “Uh-oh, she’s not looking good.” He rushed over to them, skidding to a stop and quickly setting about examining the injured pegasus.

“Can you help her?” Dash asked.

“Well, she’s breathing, which is good,” he replied. “She’s also got a strong heartbeat, which is extra good. I’m gonna need to tie off this leg, though. Can you get me a length of her harness, preferably one with a useable buckle?” Dash wasted no time in snapping one of the harness straps off and giving it to him. “Cool. Now, this is probably gonna hurt a lot, so it’s a good thing she’s in la-la land right now.” He looped the fabric around the injured leg and cinched it tight. Even unconscious, Star Fall winced. 

“Okay, what now?”

Calumn looked over to her. “Now she needs to get to a hospital. Pronto. If you bring her hoof, they might even be able to reattach it. The longer it goes, though, the less likely that gets.”

“I can do that,” Dash said, already plotting out how fast she could fly with a passenger without hurting Star Fall further.

“That’s good, ‘cause, um… is it just me, or is it getting really red out here?”

A cold fear stole up Dash’s spine as she realized that he was right, the hollow had become bathed in a ruby glow. A glow that seemed to pulse and swirl in time with her own heart. She turned to the crater, and saw Charisma floating above it. Her wings were spread, unmoving. Her injuries dripped with blood that painted lines of crimson through her fur, spreading like veins along her body. A cold, almost melancholy look had replaced the vicious smile, but there was still a sense of satisfaction in it. Worst of all were her eyes, which shone with a brilliant internal light.

Dash could feel the Element of Loyalty, the power flowing through her as if she had stuck her hoof in an electrical socket. It felt good. It felt dangerous. Worst of all, it told her that her battle with Charisma wasn’t over, it was just beginning.

“Looks like we’re one-one,” Charisma said. Her hair flew upwards in an invisible air current, and as they watched her mane and tail almost doubled in length, the swirls of purple, blue and red gaining greater definition. She stretched her neck, letting out a sigh of pleasure as a wave of change rolled over her body. Her wings lengthened, the trailing feathers turning a stark black with a slash of blood-red cutting through them. With a quartet of sharp cracks, her hooves shattered, transforming into long, wicked dragon-like claws. Her flanks boiled as her cutie mark erupted, little crimson teardrops appearing in a pattern around it, as well as along her legs and around her eyes. She opened her mouth to let out a cry of release that revealed a mouth full of sharp fangs. Finally, the light in her eyes faded, and Rainbow Dash saw a horrible understanding and clarity reflected in them. Charisma flashed her a small, almost friendly smile. 

“Time for the tie breaker.”